By: Vandal Truong
Rating: 6.5/11

"Look, if you're not calling with work, don't call. We've got a lot on our minds, with negotiating international distribution deals, merchandise licensing, and trying to stay up-to-date on music business gossip." Thus is the onset greeting (or warning) from the contact site for Squirrels From Hell. Part industrious workmen, part macabre, this band does not aim for middle of the road.

Adopting a sound that is a blend of The Smithereens and Morphine, Squirrels From Hell creates songs that are full of up-tempo melodies with a tinge of darkness. Newest member Nate Cabana provides a full throttle saxophone, which serves up each song as something more than midnight rock fodder. On the track "Place I Died," the band takes a bold form, with the sax smoothing out the opening electric guitars. Common themes are despair, loneliness, and flat out disillusionment with the world. The standout track is "Difficult/ Funny" a sunset murder ballad in the tune of Nick Drake crossed with surfer music.

Their band mission statement is as follows, "Outraged by the artistic compromises they see all around them, Squirrels From Hell have intensified their focus on providing the youth of our planet with a musical vision of unparalleled value." Lofty goals but certainly noble ones. But with lyrics such as those on "Baby, Please Stay" ("First time I saw you, I was in a dream/ you had eyes so full of sunrise, baby/ And your skin was just like cream") and the very literal lines of "I don't have hopes and dreams" from the song, "Since I Don't Have You," the band is a bit of a distance from that bold, planetary goal.